CSR Discourse Research Articles

Legitimating CSR discourse on Facebook during the pandemic: A comparative analysis of Romanian food retail companies

Legitimating CSR discourse on Facebook during the pandemic: A comparative analysis of Romanian food retail companies

Legitimation Strategies in the CSR Discourse of the Romanian Food Retail Companies During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020 in Romania determined companies to adapt their communication. Through a quantitative content analysis, this work presents the topics that were covered in CSR communication by three food retail companies in Romania and the legitimation strategies that were used in the CSR discourse from their pandemic press releases. The research focuses on 21 press releases from Kaufland Romania, Lidl Romania and Carrefour Romania food retailers’ websites, issued between March 2020 and May 2020. The results show that the most frequent communication topics of the three organizations was that of actions for health institutions and patients. Likewise, it also shows that rationalization legitimation was the most used strategy by Lidl and Kaufland, the companies presenting the means by which they carried out CSR actions and the effects of these actions. Moral legitimation was the most used strategy by Carrefour, the company assigning evaluative attributes to the pandemic period or to the affected people.

Exposing the real ‘social’ side of mining-related CSR in Sierra Leone

This paper offers an ethnographic study of how CSR initiatives are implemented in communities that have been relocated for large-scale mining; how these initiatives are experienced locally; and how different people respond to the effects of these initiatives. Beyond documenting the limited benefits of CSR initiatives, this paper reveals how local people (re)shape the social outcomes of CSR in nuanced ways and challenges the ‘premise’ of modernity promises on which CSR sits. The findings of this study are based on 12 months ethnographic fieldwork conducted in three communities that have experienced mining-induced displacement and resettlement (MIDR), in the north of Sierra Leone. The study finds that the mining company implemented a number of CSR initiatives that threatened women's and men's lifeworlds in different ways. However, beyond this, the findings demonstrate how local people respond to –avoid, adapt, and resist - these CSR initiatives. These findings contribute to CSR discourse by going beyond a community level analysis, to show how different individuals experience CSR within mining communities in Sierra Leone. Second, how through their reactions to CSR initiatives, individuals within mining-affected communities, and women in particular, take social responsibility into their own hands, thus contributing to the feminisation of mining theory.

Capturing the dynamic tension in CSR discourses: Toward an integrative circuit of culture model

This paper adopts the Circuit of Culture (COC) – an interpretive approach to international public relations practice based on its five moments (i.e., regulations, production, representations, consumption and identity) – as a guiding framework to analyze corporate social responsibility discourses of Wilmar, a multinational corporation based in Singapore. Sustainability reports from 2009 to 2019 were first accessed to examine the negotiation dynamics that occur in textual discourse when the company dealt with the talk-action relationship through the Communication as Constitutive of Organization (CCO) approach. These were integrated with the contextual propositions nurtured in the five moments of COC to identify the negotiating mechanisms that Wilmar constructed to make sense of, explain, and justify tensional situations between set commitments and actual performance. This study aims to demonstrate how CCO can complement COC to offer a holistic interpretive approach to understand the situated communication dynamics and discursive construction process of talk-action relationship in an international public relations context.

CSR and the Hermeneutical Renovation of Foucault’s Toolbox

This article aims to examine Foucault’s conceptual toolbox (methodology, conceptual tools, and conceptual meta-tools) in relation to the socio-historical analysis of CSR and of the corporation. The article has a bidirectional purpose: it aims to use Foucault’s toolbox to analyze CSR, and to use the occasion of applying Foucault to CSR to reflect on the interpretation, critical potential, and adequacy of Foucault’s conceptual toolbox. It starts with some preliminary work: a review and rework of an interpretation of Foucault’s conceptual toolbox by Koopman and Matza. With this interpretationally revised toolbox in mind, it then initiates a Foucauldian approach to the research field of ‘the corporation’ and the sub-field of CSR. Most of the first half of this article demonstrates that Foucault’s toolbox offers a fruitful start to tackling these fields. The second half of the article takes up a counterpoint in the reverse direction, namely that Foucault’s toolbox is not equipped for adequately apprehending the interpretative play and flexibility operating within CSR discourse. This leads to a suggestion of three ways to incorporate hermeneutic tools into Foucault’s toolbox, and to an exemplification of how such toolbox renovation sheds new light on the tactics and power dynamics of CSR discourse.

Strategic CSR Framing by Firms in Emerging Markets

International isomorphism is the traditional explanation for emerging firms’ use of CSR discourse. In a study of 245 firms in 8 countries, we find that although isomorphism explains convergence on one dimension of CSR, firms diverge from the international standard on other frames. This divergence is explained by symbolic management of risk perceptions and performative response within the institutional environment of the home country. Through qualitative and quantitative content analysis we find that environmental and human rights CSR frames focus attention on risk reduction relative to peers while traditional CSR frames portray the firm as a moral exemplar. In a climate of increasing litigiousness and awareness of risk, environmental and human rights discourses are the natural strategic choices of firms when conveying CSR activities. Overall, the environmental dimension increases over time, congruent with the explanation of mimetic isomorphism. However, patterns on a country level reveal that firms remain strategic actors in that they choose frames compatible with local government context, particularly when that government context is strong.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Media: A Content Analysis of Business News in Spain

ABSTRACTThis article presents the findings of a theoretically driven content analysis of the coverage of corporate social responsibility by Expansión, the leading Spanish business journal, in a 1-year time frame. The goal of the article is to help companies understand how they can take advantage of media coverage of CSR by identifying the major stakeholder groups and CSR issues discussed in business news, the positive/negative/mixed tone of the coverage, and the differences that exist in media CSR discourse depending on the industry under scrutiny. The findings are explained under the salience framework of stakeholder theory.

Reposisi CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) di Indonesia

CSR discourse (Corporate Social Responsibility) emerged as an effort to built corporate responsibility to the social neighborhood. Accidentally temporal CSR practices rise the stereotype and skepticism of its worked by some ecologists. This paper attempts to reposition CSR in Indonesia as the scutum protecting entity of corporate exploitation. Through an ecopolitical study inspired by Piers Blake's work and concludes with the ethics of care developed by Carol Gilligan, this paper extend the interpretation of CSR as a ‘zoon politicon’ that demands the transformation of its role and practices in symbiotic mutualism with their neighborhood.

Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives in Nigeria

In this chapter, we review the important CSR initiatives in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and largest market for goods and services, to articulate the understanding and dynamics of CSR in sub-Saharan Africa. This is important to global CSR research which often neglects cross-national variations and peculiarity in CSR discourse. First, the concept of CSR is examined and contextualised in the developing countries (Nigeria). Next we look at the CSR initiatives in Nigeria, including those by MNCs, Small and Medium size enterprises (SMEs), the government, and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We also highlighted the key strategies employed by these initiatives, such as the use of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). Lastly, we critically examine the strategic intent of these initiatives, in order to provide recommendations for future initiatives.

EDF Energy's green CSR claims examined: the follies of global carbon commodity chains

AbstractIn this article, we analyse the dynamic connections constituted by the global commodity chains of carbon markets, which offer profit, marketing and legitimacy‐providing opportunities for both Northern and Southern corporations. Specifically, we contrast EDF Energy's green CSR and marketing discourse with the social, economic and environmental realities on the ground near the factory of Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited (GFL), which operates one of the biggest clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in India. Based on historical documents, secondary datasets, companies’ websites and their financial information, primary ethnographic and interview data, our analysis makes a direct link – enabled by global carbon markets – between the green claims made by EDF Energy, one of the biggest energy companies in the UK, and the dirty reality of GFL's operations in India. In this historical case, we put into doubt the green CSR claims made by EDF Energy, questioning the discourse of sustainable development and improvement in people's lives that surround global carbon markets and specifically the CDM.

The bad, the ugly and the good: new challenges for CSR communication

Purpose – This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the role of CSR communication and the development of theory and practice of CSR Communication in recent years. Design/methodology/approach – The editorial sets up a research agenda for the future, the premises outlined about the role of CSR communication being based on Habermas’ (1984) idea of instrumental/strategic and communicative action. Findings – The theoretically based research shows that there are different framings of CSR. In the first framing, the business discourse is trying to institutionalize CSR and sustainability by pursuing CSR purely as a business case. In the second framing, alternative CSR discourses are challenging the business discourse, communication being oriented towards shared understanding. Originality/value – The above findings are original insofar ...

Colonial Walls: Psychic Strategies in Contemporary Mining-Related Displacement


 
 
 In May 2011, African Barrick Gold, owner of the North Mara Gold Mine in northern Tanzania, announced a plan to erect a three-metre-high concrete wall to enhance security against incursions from local (displaced) populations. Taking this wall as both metaphorical and material, this paper questions the psychological impact of displacement on “displacers.” How does this subject avoid psychic implosion? My review identifies legal infrastructure, mythologies of Canadian benevolence, CSR discourses, and community consultations as operating to provide psychic scaffolding for this dominant subject, who is thus inured against psychic distress and implosion in response to conditions of what can be deemed routine structural violence. 
 
 

How well are water companies engaged in CSR? A critical cross-geographical discourse analysis

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how well water companies in four different nationalities and political cultures are engaged in the CSR discourse. This question is relevant after more than 20 years of privatization of the public administration's bureaucracy and its adoption of management styles, behaviours and thinking from the private business sphere. This paper seeks to critically examine how water companies take part in the CSR discourse, by which institutional mechanisms this managerial “thinking” in terms of institutional “logics” has come about, and which adopted “meanings” lie behind.Design/methodology/approach– The paper shows a qualitatively, ethnographic investigation and discourse analysis of privatized water companies from four different political and market economy nations; small- and medium-sized water companies from the social-democratic state of Denmark; large size companies from the conservative and liberal market economy of the UK; large- and multinational companies from the USA and medium-, large- and multinationals from South Africa. Seven companies are chosen in each country from the smallest to the largest in order to obtain maximum variety and express analytical generalizations across nations and company sizes if possible.Findings– The findings of the cross-geographical, -political, -market economical study of maximum variety of companies show how institutional logics are transferring from “implicit” CSR towards “explicit” CSR through coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism: companies that are only engaged in coercive isomorphic “implicit” CSR show a hesitant and resistant engagement, whereas companies engaging in normative and mimetic isomorphic “explicit” CSR translate their discourses in a more authentic way. However, the findings also question the credibility of this authenticity when most CSR-reports from the water companies are made without third party accreditation, without performance indicators and only through narratives that are hard to scrutinize.Research limitations/implications– The research has limitations towards the discourse analysis, which in Denmark was possible to conduct from both oral texts such as interviews, observation studies and document analysis, whereas in the UK, the USA and South Africa is based only on written texts from documents, CSR-reports, annual reports and written communications between regulators and companies. The research implications suggest a further replication of the findings from a more in-depth analysis of the institutional logics in these companies in the UK, the USA and South Africa by replication of the study from Denmark.Practical implications– The practical implications of this study suggest a transformation of political instrumentation from rule-setting to incentives making to make public water service companies even more engaged in “explicit” CSR to obtain more authenticity and a higher level of legitimacy in the field compared to the strong tradition of “explicit” CSR seen in the private business sphere.Originality/value– The originality and value of this research is shown by the empirical findings of the theoretical suggestions by Matten and Moon in how “implicit” CSR is transferred to “explicit” CSR in the privatization of public service companies in the water sector across nations, cultures, political and market economical spheres. It shows through the discourse analysis of institutional logics how institutional isomorphism is prevalent in this sector and how New Public Management systems need to conform from instrumental rule-making to incentive-making to make public service adopt CSR in a more authentic way.

The responsibility of corporate social responsibility in SMEs

Purpose – This paper aims to draw attention to the responsibility of CSR in SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – Examining the emergence of the global and Indian CSR discourse and India's industrial and SME domain in particular in the context of global value chains and SME policy, this conceptual paper looks at the deficiencies in the present approaches. Drawing upon existing literature on global value chains, codes of conduct and multi‐stakeholder initiatives, it articulates the special challenge posed by the issues of labour rights and humane working conditions.Findings – This paper suggests that SMEs by themselves cannot take up this responsibility and that the codes of conduct of transnational corporations would also be of limited utility and an active governmental role is necessary.Originality/value – The paper calls for a change in political culture that looks at humane labour practices as a necessary condition for work and not as a liability in the pursuit of investments to provide a counterweight to...

Conscience as control – managing employees through CSR

Corporate social responsibility has become an important topic for both academics and practitioners. CSR typically stands for corporate responses to ethical, environmental and social issues. Whilst extant research has predominately focused on CSR in relation to external stakeholders and taking a macro-institutional and/or functionalist perspective, we provide a critical engagement with the interactions between CSR, employees and management control within organizations. Qualitative data gathered at two management consultancy firms demonstrate how CSR discourses and practices serve to construct an idealized image of a socially, ecologically and ethically responsible corporate self. In this way, CSR works as a form of aspirational control that ties employees’ aspirational identities and ethical conscience to the organization. The article discusses the implications of CSR concerning cynical distancing, ethical sealing and the space for politics and critique in corporations.

From CSR rhetoric to real business practice: ethical banking in Scandinavia

The aim of this paper is to assess whether in the banking sector there is an effective coherence between corporate social responsibility statements frequently made in communication policies and banks' actual practice. This will be illustrated by comparing Scandinavian banks' CSR policies and the structure of their balance sheets. The results show that only the business practice of the so–called ethical banks is fully consistent with their CSR discourse. To conclude, some insights are offered regarding the role that these particular institutions might potentially play as a source of inspiration for the reform of the financial system.

Drivers of Change: A Multiple-Case Study on the Process of Institutionalization of Corporate Responsibility Among Three Multinational Companies

In this multiple-case study, I analyze the perceived importance of seven categories of institutional entrepreneurs (DiMaggio, Institutional patterns and organizations, Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, 1988) for the corporate social responsibility discourse of three multinational companies. With this study, I aim to significantly advance the empirical analysis of the CSR discourse for a better understanding of facts and fiction in the process of institutionalization of CSR in MNCs. I conducted 42 semi-structured face-to-face and phone interviews in two rounds with 30 corporate managers from three multinational companies. The data has been analyzed using qualitative (multiple coding) and quantitative (ANOVA, χ2 analysis) techniques. The findings indicate that one company is driven by civil society’s influence on consumer’s perception, the second company by direct attacks by civil society, agenda setting organizations and legislators, and the third by the pressure of large customers and legislators. The results suggest that the coping behaviors of MNCs at both extremes of the spectrum of perceived responsible behavior aim at (1) improving the business case for CSR and (2) increasing legitimacy in society, resulting in converging CSR perceptions, and fostering an institutionalization of CSR.

The impact and interplay of national and global CSR discourses: insights from France and Brazil

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate the interplay between national traditions and international influence on the CSR discourses and practices, in the context of two very different national contexts, namely France and Brazil.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a literature review as well as on interviews with representatives from companies and other stakeholder groups in France and Brazil.FindingsThe paper highlights the impact of national traditions, such as the strong intervention of the State in France and the lack of monitoring legislation by public authorities in Brazil, on the CSR discourses and practices in both countries. But it also shows that multinational companies, international NGOs as well as international standardization organizations lead to a certain homogenisation of the CSR discourses and practices.Research limitations/implicationsThis exploratory research should be complemented in the future by more in‐depth research, for example by comparing the CSR discourses and practices of multinational companies having activities in both countries.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights the importance for managers in companies having activities in different countries to adapt their CSR discourses and practices to the local contexts, while maintaining a coherent strategy at the international level based on the respect of some universal principles.Originality/valueFew researches have been conducted on the CSR discourses and practices in France and in Brazil. This paper highlights the main characters of the CSR discourses and practices in both countries, while targeting their common points and differences.

Special Issue on “New Perspectives on Business, Development, and Society Research”

The theme of this special issue is ‘‘New Directionsin Business, Development, and Society Research’’.The special issue aims to find new ways forward inthe CSR and international development debate5 years after the journal International Affairs firstpublished a special issue on critical perspectives onCSR in the developing world (81:3, May 2005). Acore concern of that particular issue was to take acritical look at the theoretical potential, limits andthe actual impacts of CSR policies in the developingworld. The last 5 years have witnessed a new set ofissues being linked to the notion of CSR (e.g., thebusiness and poverty reduction debate). We havealso seen increasing sophistication in terms ofthe theoretical perspectives and methodologicalapproaches that are employed in the CSR anddevelopment debate (e.g., impact assessment meth-odologies related to codes of conduct). Furthermore,there has been a greater emphasis on incorporatinglocal-level firm, farmer, and worker perspectives onthe relevance and applicability of Western-styleCSR interventions to their particular contexts (seee.g., Barrientos and Smith, 2007; Blowfield andDolan, 2008; Kandachar and Halme, 2008; Khanand Lund-Thomsen, forthcoming).Originally, the need for critical, academic inquiryof the way in which CSR was operationalized indeveloping world contexts arose due to the narrow,instrumentalist focus of the business-oriented litera-ture on the topic that existed in the late 1990s andearly 2000s. In fact, a great deal of attention was paidto how businesses could enhance their profitabilityby incorporating social and environmental consid-erations into their core operations (‘‘the so-calledbusiness case for CSR’’), thus generating win–winoutcomes for business and society at large. In recentyears, this original concern was further developed ina number of ‘‘inspirational books’’ for corporatepractitioners that continued to (uncritically) propa-gate ideologically based claims such as ‘‘businessesare part of the solution, not part of the problem’’ andexamining how ‘‘the world’s leading companies aredoing good by doing well’’ (Boutilier, 2009; Lazlo,2008, cover page; Waddock and Badwell, 2007;Wall, 2008).By contrast, the ‘‘critical perspectives’’ literatureon CSR in developing countries highlighted thelack of empirical evidence to support the idea thatCSR initiatives could produce win-win outcomesfor Northern multinational companies in financialterms and for local workers and communities insoical and environmental terms. Different studiesrevealed that win-lose outcomes were recorded insome cases, and lose–lose outcomes were the resultin other instances (see e.g., collection in Raufflet andMills, 2009). The mainstream business-oriented CSRliterature was criticized for assuming consensus onthe values and goals inherent in Anglo-Saxoninspired CSR discourse, for downplaying powerdifferentials and conflicts between actors, andexcluding the intended beneficiaries from having asay in the formulation, implementation, and moni-toring of Western-based CSR policies in thedeveloping world (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005;Frynas, 2008; Newell and Frynas, 2007; Prieto-Carro´n et al., 2006). Other criticisms pointed to thepotentially perverse effects of CSR policies inlegitimizing the lack of implementation of national-level social and environmental legislation in thedeveloping world (Utting and Zammit, 2009). Fromthis point of view CSR has been seen as part andparcel of a neo-liberal development model whosecore features – the privatization of state enterprises,deregulation of national economies, and liberaliza-tion of international trade – further marginalizedlow-income workers, farmers, and communities in

An Exploratory Analysis of the Voluntary Responsibility Discourse in Corporate Sector: The Case of France

Sustainability and CSR have become an integral part of business media across the continents. Despite the considerable amount of research done in this domain, CSR remains so far, a field of study within the broader discipline of Management. It is often defined as an ideology that pursues to attain business objectives by operating in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way whilst balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders. Thus identifying the key stakeholders and engaging with them in transparent and lucid is crucial to the long-term viability of business. A Corporate disclosure is often considered as a method by which organizations can interact with their stakeholders and thereby influence their perceptions. However, unlike financial disclosures, which are based on uniform standards, social and environmental disclosures vary within regions, countries and industries. In this present piece of work we endeavor to explore the patterns of social disclosures within the boundaries of political entity i.e. France. We discover that French companies focus on employees and environment respectively as the most important stakeholders in CSR discourse. A number of differences have been observed between this work and the literature. We argue that socio-political disparities, in part, account for these differences and therefore a more holistic approach by combing political economy theory with stakeholder and legitimacy theory should give a better approximation of CSR discourse dynamics.